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Ignoring Illegal Immigrants

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Feb 26, 2024
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

02.26.24

News Avoidance Syndrome – ASSOCIATED PRESS

You can almost pity the press members – except they are so damned contemptible. With the news of University of Georgia student Laken Riley being murdered while out on a jogging excursion, you know the media needed to rush in and report on the prurient story. Except, they ran into a deeply uncomfortable fact; the murder suspect was an illegal immigrant, and further, he was released from being held on two occasions in two different states. 

This runs directly in opposition to shielding President Biden from any inconvenient reports regarding negative results from his lax border security. So, the only choice here is to reclassify the culprit and hope nobody notices:

Authorities on Thursday found the body of Laken Hope Riley and arrested Athens resident Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, on suspicion of murder.

Now, just to dispel any potential argument this was an oversight, or that the AP reported before all the facts were in, the bulk of this article — written by three journalists — focuses on the dangers women face while out running, and it highlights a similar story of Mollie Tibbets, who was murdered while out on a run. Tibbets was also killed by an illegal immigrant, and this too was avoided by the AP.

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Gilded Reframe – ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION

In identical fashion, the AJC also came out with a report bypassing how the killer was an illegal in this country, but at least — as one of the early outlets breaking the story late on Friday — the editors recognized the wave of scorn the paper was receiving for referring to the killer as an “Athens man” and ignoring the immigration status. 

By Saturday, the headline and content of the piece were altered, with an Editor’s Note appearing at the top.

Anti-Social Media – WASHINGTON POST

  • Like selling tickets to a trainwreck.

For reasons that still baffle, the acerbic Washington Post internet bomb-thrower Taylor Lorenz agreed to a sit-down interview with the creator of Libs Of TikTok, Chaya Raichik. The discussion was a civil, if highly contested affair, with — frankly — both ladies suffering from poor conversational interactions, but overall reflected more poorly on Lorenz, who is supposed to be the more urbane and polished professional.

In one portion of their talk, Lorenz went down her preferred path, implying (or more accurately, accusing) Raichik of inspiring threats and other negative reactions as a result of her reporting. Raichik turned it back on Lorenz and asked her the same type of question, based on the similar reactions Raichik receives after a Lorenz report on her comes out.

She asked the WaPo reporter about the accusations made that Raichik was responsible for these reactions, and Lorenz dodges this return of volley, saying, “I don’t think I have said that…” 

Problem is, she most certainly did say that — exactly that, just one week ago. On her account, Raichik shared an exchange between herself and Lorenz where the reporter was asking for comment on her latest coverage of Raickik, and in it, she leveled all manner of culpability for any violence onto Raichik.

Reporting on the Mirror – THE NEW YORK TIMES

It has been revealed in layers that The New York Times is a hive of woke millennial villainy. There was the Tom Cotton op-ed episode that rendered half the news room, a celebrated columnist ridden off for “unsafe” comments he made which no one in the newsroom heard him say – years ago, while on a trip in another country — Bari Weiss was essentially chased off for merely being a writer who was barely right of center.

Now, comes some more internal revelations from another conservative writer deposed from the paper. Writing in The Atlantic, Adam Rubenstein details how he was regarded as a “heretic” while at the paper, and it was something he encountered from his first days at The Times:

On one of my first days at The New York Times, I went to an orientation with more than a dozen other new hires. We had to do an icebreaker: Pick a Starburst out of a jar and then answer a question. My Starburst was pink, I believe, and so I had to answer the pink prompt, which had me respond with my favorite sandwich. So I blurted out, “The spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A,” and considered the ice broken. The HR representative leading the orientation chided me: “We don’t do that here. They hate gay people.” People started snapping their fingers in acclamation. I hadn’t been thinking about the fact that Chick-fil-A was transgressive in liberal circles for its chairman’s opposition to gay marriage. “Not the politics, the chicken,” I quickly said, but it was too late.

After reading about that mystifyingly dysfunctional meeting, understand that these are the very same people who leap to describe those with opposing views as being in a cult.

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

  • Maybe this was a how-to on how not to comport oneself professionally…?

We have no idea why this particular outlet felt the need to deliver a lesson on how to properly share your pronouns with other people.

Perhaps it is how to make others uncomfortable about your personal business…maybe?

Low Octane Gas Lighting – AXIOS

Russell Contreras is doing his best to get on the White House Christmas party list by dutifully slinging the agitprop about the border being so well closed down that he describes it as having been “fortified.” It is a “myth,” you see, that the border is open. 

Somebody should tell that to the government, maybe?

Pulitzer Prize Nomination / Sports Reporting – FOX SPORTSNET

  • If this is any indication of his sports hot takes…

For some reason, the very wealthy and privileged sports gabber Colin Cowherd felt the need to come out and tell us that the economy is doing wonderful things these days. Mainly he gives examples of those with disposable income doing well, like the stock market and Las Vegas casinos doing grand business.

As for the rabble — you know, his audience — they are probably seeing a different reality.